З життя4 години ago
The Fool
Everyone thought Ann was a simpleton. She’d been married to her husband for fifteen years, and they had two children: Alice, fourteen, and Sean, seven. Her husband barely hid his affairs—he cheated on her the second day after their wedding, with a waitress, and no one could count the affairs after that. Her friends tried to open her eyes, but Ann just smiled sweetly and stayed silent.
Ann worked as an accountant at a children’s toy factory. Her salary, as she said, was pitifully small, but her workload reached the sky. She even had to work weekends and sometimes stayed overnight during quarterly and annual reports.
Her husband earned very well. Ann, however, was a hopeless homemaker. No matter how much money she got, it was never enough for groceries, the fridge was always empty, and—at best—there was just soup and sausages with pasta. And so they lived. Everyone was amazed to see Val with yet another new girlfriend. He often came back home, as they said, “dry as a bone.”
“Oh, Ann’s such a fool. Why does she put up with a philanderer?”
On the day Sean turned ten, her husband came home and announced he was getting a divorce. He’d fallen in love, and the family no longer suited him.
“Don’t be upset, Ann, but I’m filing for divorce. You’re as cold as a fish. If you were at least a good homemaker, but you can’t even manage that.”
“That’s fine. I agree to the divorce.”
Val nearly fell off his chair. He’d been prepared for a scandal, a hysterical scene, tears—he hadn’t expected such calm.
“Alright, then pack your things and I won’t get in your way. I’ll come back tomorrow, just leave your key under the mat.”
Ann looked at him with a strange, almost suspicious smile. It all seemed odd to Val, but he soon forgot about it, picturing his new life without his wife or the kids.
The next day he came back with his new flame. There was no key under the mat, making him a bit grumpy.
“No matter, I’ll change the locks, easy.”
He tried his key in the lock—it didn’t fit. He knocked on the door.
A big, burly man in slippers and a dressing gown opened it.
“What do you want, mate?”
“This is my flat, actually,” Val said, not too convincingly.
“I’d argue with that, got any paperwork? If you do, best show it.”
Of course, Val had no documents on him. Suddenly, he remembered the proof of registration in his passport. He fumbled and finally found it.
“Here’s my passport—the address is inside.”
The man in the dressing gown flicked through the papers, then smirked and handed it back.
“When did you last open this booklet?”
Val, sensing something wrong, turned to the registration page. There were two stamps—one for moving in, one two years ago for moving out.
What happened? He didn’t argue with the giant. He tried to call his wife, but she was out of reach.
He decided to wait for her after work. But here too, he failed. Ann had left her job a year ago. Their daughter had gone abroad to study, and their son should still be at school. But even at school, he got nowhere—Sean had transferred last year, and they wouldn’t give details to a father who didn’t know where his son went.
Utterly defeated, Val sat on a bench, head in hands. How could this happen? His meek, mousy ex had orchestrated this? And how did she sell the flat? Well, he’d sort it out in court—divorce was a week away.
He arrived at the divorce hearing angry, determined to expose her and get back what was his. At the hearing, everything fell into place. He’d completely forgotten signing a general power of attorney to his wife two years ago—at the time, he was so smitten with Eliza, his new paramour, that he’d signed whatever his then-wife asked for, to help their daughter with paperwork for studying abroad. He’d handed over everything himself. Now he was left with nothing, on the street, and, worst of all, with no flat, Eliza vanished too.
“At least she’ll file for alimony, then I’ll teach her a lesson!” he thought.
But disappointment struck again. Instead of a summons for child support, he received one challenging his paternity. Turns out, both children were not his.
On their wedding day, Ann had seen her husband cheating with a waitress. Something short-circuited inside her. She couldn’t explain what happened, but she chose a unique path for revenge. First, an affair for an affair.
Then she started saving. Every penny her husband gave for groceries, she hid. The fridge stood empty, but the kids had nice clothes and ate at their grandmother’s. Ann’s mother shook her head and tried to talk her daughter out of it.
“Revenge will destroy you, and shatter the children’s minds,” her mother warned.
But Ann stayed obsessed with her goal—and reached it. She did DNA tests on the kids, though she already knew they weren’t her husband’s.
That was a knockout blow for Val. Losing the flat didn’t hurt as much as finding out neither child was his.
Never underestimate a wronged woman—in anger, she is capable of anything.
Silly Girl Everyone considered Emily a silly girl. She had been married to her husband for fifteen years, and they had two children: Abigail, aged fourteen,...
